Article in Press

Conceptual Paper

Factors affecting Muslim Tourists Choice of Halal Concept Hotels and

Satisfaction in Malaysia: Moderating effect of Religious Devotedness
Zubair Hassan
Facuty of Economics and Management Sciences
International Islamic University , Malaysia
Zubai7@gmail.com

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence Muslim Tourist preference
towards a Halal Concept Hotels in, particularly Malaysia. Based on the review of past
literature we found that there is very limited empirical research done to examine the factors
that affects the choice of Muslim Tourists decision to stay in Halal Concept Hotel. Numerous
researches based on Islamic tourism, Shariah Compliant Hotels or Tourism was examined to
identify the factors that influence Muslim Tourist preference and how it influences their
satisfaction. Based on the literature we found six variables that influence directly Muslim
Tourists preference of Halal Concept Hotels. These include availability and easy access to
Halal Food, Prayer facilities in the room and access to Masjids (mosques), Prohibition of
behaviours that violates General Islamic Moral behaviour, Muslim friendly tour packages-
which considers festive seasons, Religious affiliated sites and Religious devotedness towards
Islam. Past literature shows that these factors have direct or indirect influence on Muslims
Tourist Satisfaction. Also we concluded that selection and satisfaction of staying in Halal
Concept Hotel might be moderated by Religious devotedness of Muslim Tourist. Therefore a
survey must be conducted to collect Muslim Tourist perception on these factors to establish
the generated hypotheses. To do this a minimum of 500 Muslims tourists from Islam dominant
Keycountries
words: Islamic
will ebbTourism,
selectedHalal
usinghotel,
QuotaSatisfaction,
sampling. and Religious devotedness
1. Introduction

There are many researches done on Islamic Tourism around the world, especially on Malaysia.
However only few or handful of studies focus on identifying and examining factors affecting the
adoption of Islamic Hotels in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of
factors affecting the adoption of Islamic Hotels and its affects on tourist satisfaction and revisit
intention

According to the ASEAN Travel and Tourism competitiveness Report (2012) Malaysia is listed
among the top 10 countries Malaysia where 25 million tourist visited Malaysia by the end of
2011 (BERNAMA, 2011). The below table shows the growth of tourist arrival on Malaysia from
2000 to 2013 indicating that Malaysia is one of the highly potential market for tourism in
ASEAN market and around the world

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Since there are very few researches done on examining the determinants of customer
preference towards Halal Hotel and how these factors influences the Muslim Tourists. The
model we posited in here included religious devoutness as a moderating factor that influences
Muslims to choice of Halal Hotel and satisfaction. Therefore the following research objectives
are formulated

1. To examine the impact of Halal Food access and availability on Muslim tourists
satisfaction
2. To examine the impact of Muslim Friendly Holiday packages on Muslims tourists
satisfaction
3. To examine the impact of accessibility to prayer facilities on Muslims tourists
satisfaction
4. To examine the impact of general Islamic morality practices on Muslims Tourists
satisfaction
5. To examine the impact of accessibility to religious affiliated sites on Muslims tourists
satisfaction
6. To examine the impact of religious devoutness on Tourists satisfaction

2. Literature Review

Review of Islamic Tourism as a Concept

Before begins to defining Islamic tourism or Halal Tourism, it is important to define tourism.
One of the popular definition for tourism is proposed by WTO and define as Tourism comprises
the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not
more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise
of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. (Medlik, 2003). This means tourism has
three basic aspects. These are the movement of people (demand side), industry or sector(supply
side), interacting relationship s of people (Page and Connell, 2009, 65; Chadwick, 1994, 65).

However when it comes to Islamic tourism /Halal Hotels, there are many ambiguities
surrounding the concepts (Henderson, 2010). Henderson attempted to define the Islamic
Tourism and distinguishes Islamic Tourism form Non Islamic Tourism and Un-islamic Tourism.
Henderson (2009) argued that Islamic tourism is mainly conducted by Muslims. Although later
Henderson (2010) defined Islamic tourism as an activity that all the marketing efforts and
product development efforts are designed to attract Muslims only. However for some Muslim
researchers define Islamic tourism as that strictly follows the Islamic values in their tourism
activities(Hassan , 2007). According to Hassan (2004), Islamic tourism is a new ethical

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dimension of tourism and attempted to include as one dimension of ethics. Much emphasis on
this, Ala-Hamarnesh(2011) argues that Islamic tourism is a conservative concept that emphasis
on economic, cultural and religious form of tourism. In contrast Shakiry (2006) defined Islamic
tourism as all forms of tourism except any tourism activity that is against Islamic values. This
definition is considered more appropriate for Islamic Tourism. This definition becomes more
acceptable among the researchers to draw a line between Islamic Tourism and general tourism.
Therefore Islamic Tourism is an activity by Muslims for the purpose of relaxation and
entertainment in hospitality organisation to attract Muslims to a particular destination by
applying Islamic Principles (Dogan, 2010).

Review of related Theories

There are many theories that were proposed and discussed by various researches in the field of
Islamic Tourism or Halal Tourism. One approach of examining what motivates or values drives
Muslims to chose a particular destination. Many researchers attempted to apply motivational
related theories to examine the choice of Muslim tourist. One of the widely discussed theory is
Maslows motives model (1943), Plog(1974) and Pearce (1993). Maslow theory is cited in many
travel and tourism literature such as Mill and Morrison (1998) focusing on the five needs such
as physiological needs (relaxation), safety (security), belonging (love), Esteem (achievement),
Self-actualization( be true to oneself) (Chan &Chang, 2008). Also many research focus on using
Mill and Morrison (1998) model to examine the values and motives of tourists. According to
Chan and Chang (2008) with reference to Mountinho (1987, cited in Chang and Chang 2008) the
Maslow model indicate two key variables such as personality and habits. Also Mill and
Morissison (1998) proposed several factors to determine the factors influencing tourist in
choosing a particular destination such as motivations, perceptions, learning and attitudes; and
these factors are influenced by personality, culture and society.

Another group of researchers examine the travellers choice of a particular destination using
values. This is another aspects of Islamic tourism. Some of the leading contributors on this area
mainly focus on defining the behavours of tourists using transcend specific situations or
evaluation of behaviour and events (Madrigal 1995).Rokeaches value scale (RVS) is another
instrument used by travel tourism researchers to examine the factors affecting travel tourism
behaviour. Some of the variables include ambitious, broadminded, clean, loving, and polite.

In terms of Islam, the Islamic values associated with Muslims are very important for those who
really understand and practice Islam. Muslims endeavour to follow the path of ALLAH's,
Sharia', derived from Qura'an and Hadith. According to Quran and Hadith, there are five basic
obligations for Muslims and they are the belief in the oneness of God, praying five times a day,
giving charity, fasting Ramadan and performing Hajj. Not only that Islam also emphasis on
other values such as family, community, modesty and morality (Hodge, 2002).

Similarly push and pull theory approach also tries to determine the factors that influences the
travellers to choose a particular destination or a hotel (Battour, Ismail, and Battor, 20110;
Kovjanic, 2014). Battour et al (2010 and 2014) mainly focus on Malaysia where the study
emphasises on studying the pull and push motivators for the adoption of Islamic hotel or
tourism services. This theory is very popular in tourism sector literature. Factors such as
religions, regulations, and access to Mosque, prayer facilities presence of Azan announcements
in public , halal issues dress code and displaying affecting are some of the pull factors (Battour
et al 2010). Another popular theory used widely in Islamic and general tourism research to
study customer behaviour and intensions is Brand Equity (Shafaei, 2015). Some of the related
Islamic tourism factor are awareness about Islamic tourism and Halal hotels, image of Islamic
destination such as Malaysia, perceived quality of Islamic/Halal Hotel and perceived value
towards Islamic /Halal hotels being discussed and examined. Also some of the research on
Islamic tourism and halal hotel have employed Theory of Leipers tourism system , which was

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published in 1979 to investigate the need and motives of Muslims travel journey such as
spiritual, acquiring knowledge, leisure , financial and physical liability (Musa , Ali and
Moghavvemi, n.d) Under this theoretical approach , they try to discover the factors that
motivates Muslim tourist to adopt Halal Hotel including Halal Tour activities, Halal food, Islamic
heritage in the country of destination, respecting Islamic values and Sharia Compliant hotel. (1
The Theory of planned behaviour and Congruent theory are also two popular theories in
consumer behaviour studies. Similarly with the emergence of Islamic Tourism and Halal
Concept, these both theories were being used to conduct research in understanding the reason
for the adoption of Halal Hotel or Islamic tourism related service (Ab Rahman et al, 2011; Said
and Hassan , 2014). Under Planned behaviour theory, factors such as attitude, religions and
behaviour where it was measured using level of knowledge, supplier and government support
(Ab Rahman et al, 2011). While Congruent theory was used to study factors such as country of
origin, consumer ethnocentrism and religiosity commitment/devotedness in adoption of a
Halal Hotel(Islamic tourism).

The table below shows the nature of the theoretical links with Islamic tourisms

Table 1: summary of Theoretical application in Islamic/Halal Tourism

Authors Theory Islamic tourism related Findings
factors
Shafaei and Push and Pull Push Motivators: Relaxation, The study showed that
Mohamaed Motivators Spirituality, Family, Cultural, the push factor of
(2013). Activity, Knowledge, Loyalty Relaxation and the pull
and Economic factor of Religion are
Pull Motivators : Religious, the most important
Safety, Entertainment, Luxury factors as perceived by
and Local culture Saudis.
Battour, Ismail Push and Pull Access to mosque, prayer The results show that
and Battor Motivators facilities/room at tourism sites, mutual consensus is
(2010). Presence of loud public found regarding easy
pronouncement of Azan access to worship
Placement of Qibla stickers places
Provision of a copy of the Quran (Masjid/prayer room),
in hotel room easy to find Halal food,
Halal issues (food, alcoholic availability of the
drinks, kitchen, gambling) Quran and the Qiblah
Segregated services provided in direction pointer.
hotels Islamic toilets and
Islamic dress code Islamic entertainment
Prostitutions, display of were reported as highly
affection between sexes and prioritized tangible
general morality attributes
Shafaei (2015) Brand Equity Awareness about Islamic Results showed that all
Theory destination the five proposed
Image about Islamic destination hypotheses of the study
Perceived quality of Islamic were accepted. The
destination strongest relationship
Perceived value about Islamic was found between
destination involvement and
Loyalty towards Islamic awareness, followed by
destination involvement and
quality, involvement
and image, involvement

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 and value, and
involvement and
loyalty.
Musa, Ali and Theory of Travellers Generating region To attract Muslim
Moghavvemi Leipers spiritual journey tourists, hotels and
(n.d) Tourism Spreading and acquiring restaurants should
system knowledge serve halal meals, and
leisure motivation managers should
physical and financial consider applying for
liability halal certification, as
this would instill
Travelers destination region confidence among
Sharia compliant hotel Muslim tourists
Halal Tour activities
Halal food
Attraction in Muslim
countries
Respecting Islamic Manners
(dress code and behaviour)

Ab Rahman, Theory of Attitude The finding shows that

Saleh , Ab planned subjective norm(Religion) attitude and perceived
Rahman and Behaviour behaviour(Lack of knowledge, behavioral control have
Hashim(2011) Supplier and governance issues) significant relationship
with behavior of non-
compliance but
subjective norm has no
significant relationship
with the behavior of
non-compliance
Said and Hassan Congruent country of origin
(2014) Theory Consumer ethnocentrism
Religiosity commitment

Empirical research on Islamic/Halal Tourism

Various researches were carried out to examine the Islamic concepts of tourism in Malaysia in
terms of branding as a Islamic hub(Shafae and Mohammed, 2013), destination attributes of
Muslims choice (Battour, Ismail, Battor, 2010, Battour and Ismail, 2014),demands and supply of
Muslim tourism (COMCE, 2016), Muslims involvement in travelling to Islamic destination
(Shafae, 2015), Islam and online imagery on Malaysian tourist destination websites (Hashim,
Murphy and Hashim, 2007), Muslims tourist loyalty towards Islamic destination (Rahman,
2014),practice of Sharia compliant Hotels in Malaysia (Samori, and Rahman, 2013), attributes of
destination influences Mulsim tourist motivation to visit Malaysia (Khan, Haque, Rahman,
2013), and factors motivates Muslim tourists to visits Malaysia (Kamaruddin and Ismail , 2012).
Many other researchers have conducted similar researches among Muslim tourists around the
world on similar areas examining the reasons for Mulims choices for a particular destination or
hotel or reason for travelling. One of the key factor that influences Muslims choice is availability
an convenience to access to Halal food (Shafaei and Mohammed, 2013; Battour et al, 2010;
COMCE, 2016; Shafaei, 2015; Hashim et al, 2007; Idris and Wahab, 2015; Kovjanic, 2014; Musa
et al, n.d; Rahman 2014; Salleh et al, 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013). Availability and easy
access to Halal food is considered to be one of the most important factors that influences
Muslim tourist to chose a particular destination and its directly associates with satisfaction

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(Khan et al, 2013) and it is compulsory for more religious devoted Muslism tourists
(Weidenfield and Ron, 2008; Kamaruddin and Ismail 2012) which influences satisfaction. Since
Halal food is considered as one elements of quality of services provided by the hotels for the
Muslims, service quality was found to have direct influence on tourists satisfaction (Khan et al,
2013). Shafaei and Mohammed (2013) found that access to Halal food influences Muslims
tourists choice of Hotels in Malaysia, while Battour et al (2014) found easy to find Halal food
plays an important role on Muslim Touristss choice of hotels. More religious devoted Muslims
ensure that there are Halal food available everywhere in the country (A.M.T, 2015). Halal food
availability and accessibility is considered to be one of the key Islamic attributes of Islamic
tourist destination (Rahman ,2014). Such Islamic attributes of travel destination found to have
significant influence on Muslims tourists satisfaction (Rahman 2014). Also Omar, Omar and
karim (2014) found that there is significant relationship between Halal food availability and
tourist choice of hotel and satisfaction. Therefore the following hypotheses are formulated
H1: Availability and easy access to Halal Food positively influences tourist choice hotel and
satisfaction

Second most cited factor that influences the choice of Muslim tourists in choosing a hotel or
tourism service is considered to be prayer facilities. Availability of prayer facilities in tourist
spots and public premises are considered to be very important factors that influences Muslim
tourists choice of country and in particular a hotel (Shafaei, and Mohammed, 2013; Rahman
2014;Samori and Rahman, 2013; Battour and Ismail, 2014). Some Muslim tourists prefer to
have prayer facilities at room and at tourist sites(Battour et al, 2010; Rahman, 2014; Samori and
Rahman, 2013) Also Qiblah direction should be indicated in the room or where prayer facilities
are available (Battour et al 2010; Rahman 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013; Weidenfeld and
Ron, 2008 ). More religious devoted Muslims tourists prefer to stay in hotels where it is easy to
access to Mosques so that they can hear the pronouncement of Azan from public Mosques
(Battour et al, 2010). Prayer time indication and respect those times during the trip and in the
Hotel is important for most of the Muslim tourists and it influences the choice of hotel (Hashim
et al 2007). Qibla direction marks to Mecca, prayer mats and prayer beds are also important
factors that influences Muslim tourists choice of hotels (Kovjanic, 2014). Islamic attributes such
as Mosques accessibility, availability of prayer facilities, placement of Qibla direction has
significant and positive impact on Muslim tourists satisfaction (Rahman 2014). Similarly
Battour and Ismail (2014) found a significant and positive influence of worship or prayers
facilities on satisfaction of Muslims tourist visited Malaysia. They also found religious
devotedness moderates the relationship between pull motivators of Muslism tourist such as
prayer facilities with Muslim tourists satisfaction. Therefore the second hypotheses should be
H2: Availability and accessibility to Prayer facilities positively influences tourist choice hotel and
satisfaction

Third most important factor that influences Muslim tourists to choose a hotel is general Islamic
morality related practices in the hotel or in the tourist sites or society (Battour et al, 2010;
COMCE, 2008; Hashim et al, 2007; Idris and Wahab, 2015; Kovjanic, 2014; Razali et al, 2013;
Salleh et al, 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013; Battour and Ismail, 2014). One of the key factor
that influences general Islamic morality is entertainments. Islamic entertainments were
considered one of the important key prioritised tangible attributes that influences Muslim
tourists choice of hotels or Sharia Compliant hotels in Malaysia (Battour et al 2010). Battour et
al (2010) found more factors that influences general Islamic moral value of Muslims such as
segregation of service provided by hotel to male and female, Islamic dress code, prostitutions,
and displaying affection are considered by Muslim tourists. Muslims tourist are motivated to
stay in hotels where there is no non Halal activities or discouraged such activities and
entertainments are carried out with privacy (COMCE, 2016). Dress code, conduct and non-
Islamic conduct are considered to be key important factors considered by Muslim tourists visits
Malaysia during festive seasons in choosing a hotel (Hashim et al, 2007). Non- use of alcohol and
related drinks that might leads to misconduct or fornication were also found to be important

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factors for Muslim tourists (Idris and Wahab, 2015). Another factors that falls under general
moral behaviour is dress code, which was found to be positively associated with Muslims
tourists choice of Hotels (Idris and Wahab, 2013). Hashim et al (2007) found a positive
relationship between Islamic moral values and Muslim tourist satisfaction. It was found that
Muslim tourist with great religious devotedness prefer to stay in hotels that discourage or avoid
missing both sexes in general and during recreation activities and associated with their
satisfaction(Kovjanic, 2014). Also general Islamic morality has a significant ad positive influence
on Muslim tourists satisfaction (Battour and Ismail, 2014). Also Muslims tourists prefer to stay
at hotels where it is prohibits for unmarried couples to stay in one room, gambling , breaking
fast during day light prohibits displaying affection and contacts with opposite sex (Ghadami,
2012). The third hypothesis is
H3: The prohibition of activities that violates general morality of Muslims has positive impact on
Mulism tourist choice of hotel and Satisfaction

Muslim friendly holiday packages is found to have a significant impact on choice of hotels
among the Muslim tourists (Shafaei and Mohammed, 2013; COMCEC, 2016; Idris and Wahab,
2015). Muslim friendly holiday packages such as Ramadan, Eid-ul fitr and Qurban were
considered as important factors that influences Muslim choice of hotel where they stay (Shafaei
and Mohammed, 2013). According to COMCEC (2016), most of the Muslims tourists who visits
Malaysia consider Ramadan service facilities are available or not before they choose a hotel if
they are travelling during Ramadan season. Those Muslims who travelled to Malaysia considers
Ramadan service and facilities available from the hotel before they book the room (COMCEC,
2016). Similarly Idris and Wahab (2015) also found Ramadan celebration or consideration by
the hotel influences Muslims to choose a particular hotel during Ramadan. During Eid(Hari-
raya), it was found more Islamic pictographic and narrative imagery was evident (Hashim et al
2007). Another aspect of Muslim friendly holiday package examine in the past was Halal tour
activities (Musa et al, n.d) was found to have positive impact on Muslims tourist choice of hotels
in Malaysia. High quality services are considered as important to create value for tourists
which in turn leads to increases satisfaction and promote positive word of mouth or revisit
intension (Zabkar el al. , 2010). Travel tips and guidance given to Muslims before and after they
reach hotel is considered as important factors for Muslims in making a decision where to stay
(Hashim et al, 2007) Islamic features such as consideration of festive season were found to
have a moderating role in tourist satisfaction (Namin, 2013).Therefore it is assumed that
Muslim friendly holiday packages offered by Hotels increases number of tourists stay in the
hotel and also it increases the level of satisfaction(Khan et al 2013). Therefore fourth hypothesis
is
H4: Muslim friendly holiday packages available from the hotel has a positive impact on Muslim
tourist choice of hotel and Satisfaction

Lastly religious affiliated sites near hotel or as in the destination has a significant impact on
Muslim tourist choice of travel destination and hotel (Shafaei, 2013; A.M.T, 2015; COMCEC,
2016; Hashim et al 2007; Musa et al, n.d; Kamarudin and Ismail, 2012; Poria et al, 2003;
Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008). Rich Islamic artefacts around the hotel or travellers destination
such as mosque, Islamic architectural beauty, and museums of Islamic arts (Shafaei and
Mohammed, 2013) are consider important factors in choosing hotel. Religious and heritage
travels are considered very common among the Muslism (COMCEC, 2016). Islamic arts and
Architecture were found to have significant impact on Muslim tourists choice of Hotel and
travel destination (Hashim et al, 2007). According to Musa et al (n.d) most of the Muslism travel
to perform religious duty such a Hajj or any spiritual journey. Also attractions in Muslim
countries were also found to play an important role in making a decision where to stay(Musa et
al, n.d). This means that those Muslims who travel around the world, especially for religious
motivation are very much concern about pleasure and blessing from Allah (God) and avoid
wrong doings, and travel to those places to satisfy God and their recreations (Kamarudin et al,

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2012). Also Muslim sites are considered as one of the key element for such religious based
travellers (Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008). Therefore we hypothesis
H5: Attractive religious sites or Islamic affiliated sites of destination attributes influence the choice
of Hotel and Muslims tourist satisfaction

It is important to note that the factors that influences Muslims tourists depends on the religious
devotedness , which was found to have moderated effects on level of tourist satisfaction
(Albughuli, 2011; A.M.T, 2015; Khan, et al, 2013; Poria et al, 2003; Omar et al, 2014; Ab Rahman
et al, 2011; Said and Hassan, 2014; Shaari et al, 2013). Religiosity of the Muslims found to be
one of the key moderating factor that influences Muslim tourist satisfaction (Albughuli, 2011).
Also some studies found that Islamic elements such as religious awareness and religious
commitment plays an important role moderating the level of satisfaction of Muslim tourists
when Islamic attributes are evident in the hotel they stay(A.M.T, 2015). Similarly Khan found
that religious motivation and service quality have a positive impact with tourist satisfaction on
Islamic tourist destination. Also it was argued that actual relationship between a tourists
religion and strength of belief need to be understood in relation to the site they visit (Poria et al,
2003). According to COMCEC(2015) Muslim travellers are divided into three categories namely
Muslims whop practice , not practices and Muslims irregularly practices their religion. This
means those who practices strictly their religion (considered very devoted) tends to have
significant impact on Muslim tourists intention to consume Islamic attributed goods and
services such as Halal Food(Omar, 2014). However, Ab Rahman et al (2011) found subjective
norms such as religious devotedness has no significant impact on choice of Islamic hotel or
Halal hotels. However Said and Hassan (2014), in contrast, argued that reigiousity commitment
is congruent with what they buy and what they consume. This means that those who are more
religiously devoted tend to be more satisfied with Halal concept hotels. Also Shaari et al (2013)
found that religious devotedness has positive relation with Muslims tourist choice and
satisfaction. Therefore we hypothesis that
H6: Religious devotedness moderates Muslims Tourists choice of hotel and satisfaction.

Therefore the following variables are being selected the study

Table 2: summary of past variables identified in past literature
Halal Hotel Related variables Sources
concept
Halal Food Availability Salleh et al (2014)
Easy Access Salleh et al (2014)
Quality Khan et al (2013)
Prohibition of Non-Halal Foods Idris and Wahab (2015)
Halal certification COMCEC(2016)
Prayer Azan pronouncement in public Battour et al (2010)
facilities Qiblah direction Samori and Rahman (2013)
Prayer facilities in the hotel and sites Rahman (2014)
Prayer time indication Hashim et al (2007)
Respect to prayer times COMCEC (2016)
Easy access to Mosque Battour et al (2010)
General Entertainment activities Battour et al (2010)
Islamic Segregation of service for Male and Battour et al (2010)
Morality Female
Islamic dress code, Hashim et al (2007); Idris and
Wahab (2013)
Displaying Affection Ghadami (2012)
Mix of both sex Ghadami (2012)
Prohibition of sharing room for Ghadami (2012)
unmarried couples

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 Prohibition of Drinking alcohol Idris and Wahab (2015),
Muslims Festive seasons COMCEC (2016); Idris and
friendly Wahab (2015)
Holiday Halal Tour activities Musa et al (n.d)
Package Breaks for prayers Zabkar el al. (2010); Musa et al
(n.d)
Travel tips and Guidance Hashim et al (2007)
Motive of Tour operator Khan et al (2013); Namin (2013)
Religious Islamic artifacts Shafaei and Mohammed, (2013)
affiliated sites Religious and heritage travels COMCEC(2016)
Islamic arts and Architecture Hashim et al (2007)
Museum to show Islamic culture Shafaei and Mohammed, (2013)
Masjid(Mosque) which are very old Shafaei and Mohammed (2013)
or popular
Religious Religious awareness/knowledge A.M.T (2015)
devotedness religious motivation and service Khan et al (2011)
(moderator) quality
Strength of belief Poria et al (2003)
Practice of Islam COMCEC(2016)
Religious commitment Said and Hassan (2014)

Therefore we propose the following conceptual framework for this study

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Source: Authors own development

3. Conclusion

Islamic tourism and Sharih compliant hotels or Halal Hotel concept have received lots of
interest in travel tourism with the growth of Muslim population. The travellers from Middle east
and other Muslim countries has indirectly and directly forced some of the leading tourism

Page 9
industries to consider what is Halal and Non-halal. Suppliers in the industry started promoting
their hotels to attract Muslims signalling that they fully complies with religious needs of
Muslims.
Some of the factors that influences Muslims who really practices Islam and who really
understand and wish to follow Islam, have been considered and their needs are being addressed
by the tourism sector in the name of Islamic Tourism. The concept of Halal Hotel (services ,
financing and other activities design to attract and carried out comply with Islamic laws and
regulations). Muslims tourist needs were being strictly addressed.
However it is important to note that there is little or limited empirical research done to examine
the factors affecting Muslims Tourist choices of hotel . In other word, what are the factors that
influence Muslims Tourists preference of a Hotel or travel destination. Since Islamic tourism is
about following all the Islamic rules and Sharih in providing services that is more Halal in
every aspects such as Halal Hotel. This means Halal food, prayer facilities, Muslim friendly tour
packages, religious affiliated sites, and general morality. These factors seems directly influence
Muslim tourists satisfaction.

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